Snow-locomotive



(No Model.) '5 guess-sheet -1. B. F. GLOVER.v

'SNOW LOGOMOTIVE.

No. 593,466. Patented-Nov. 9,1897.

(No Modlj) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

B. F.' GLGVER.

5 sheets-sheet (No Model.) v

- B.P.GL0VBR. SNOW LOGOMOTIVB.

No. 593,466.- Patented Nov. 9, 1897.

u'lllumll IlllllllllllllTl llll nur Nolms hmm oo.. Novo-Lmw.. wmmcrom. c.

y (N0 Mdel.) v 5 Sheets- Sheet 4.

B. P.- GLOVER. SNOW LOCOMGTIVE.

No. 593,466. lmem'edv Nov. 9, 1897.'

(No Model.) v 5 sheets-sheet 51'" B. F. GLOVER. SNOW LOCOMOTIVB.

No. 593,466.A Patented Nov. 9, 1897.

UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BYRON F. GLOVER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SNOW-LOCOMOTIVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,466, dated November 9, 1897.

Application filedvJ'anuary 9,-18977. Serial No. 618,549. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BYRONV F. GLovEE, a citizen'of the United States, residing at Chicago, iny the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Snow-Locomotives, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines adapted for hauling sledges or the like over snow or ice roads and involving, usually, a hollow traction-wheel which is driven so as to propel the machine and is heated from its interior so as to melt down or pack the snow and thereby form such roads.

Prominent objects of my invention are to secure the greatest economy in operating the machine and in heating itstraction-wheel; to facilitate and increase the draft of the furnace without involving any additional expense; to mount .the traction-wheel so as to permit of one of its sidesfalling slightly, as required by the uneven surface of the road, without causing a corresponding jarring or jolting motion of the frame of themachine, and to provide-a simple and improved construction of traction-wheel.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other useful ends my invention contemplates providing means for supplying heated atmospheric air and conducting such heated air to the interior of the hollow traction-wheel. By thus heating the traction-wheel by means vof heated air rather than by the steam itself the accumulation of water of condensation in said wheel is avoided, it being here observed that suchan accumulation of water in the wheel is exceedingly undesirable and difficult to handle. As a preferred arrangement, the air is heated bymeans of the steam eX- hausted from an engine employed to drive the machine and then both the exhaust-steam and the air from the wheel are directed into the smoke-stack of the furnace, which supplies heat for the boiler, so as to increase the draft therein.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a side elevation of a snow-locomotive emportion of the same, showing certain portions .sents in elevation the apparatus for heating air by means of steam.

The frame of the machine or engine-truck A can for certain purposes be mounted upon wheels, but as a preferred arrangement it is.

supported upon runners B. The engine-truck A carries a suitable upright boiler C, having a steam-dome C' and an engine D, by which the traction propelling wheel or wheels can be driven. The hollow traction-wheel E could be of any suitable construction adapted for such machines. It is found very desirable, however, to have the traction-wheel provided with a number of pointed teeth arranged upon its periphery, and as a matter of improved construction for providing such teeth the traction-wheel is constructed with a number of peripheral seats, Figs. 5, 6, and 7, adapted to hold these teeth removably in place. The teeth are provided with three longitudinal sides and the seats therefor are provided with opposing side faces or walls, which are inclined toward one another correspondingly with the inclination of the sides of the teeth, by which arrangement the teeth may be slid from the end of kthe seatv into place thereon and may be removed therefrom so as to replace or repair the same. In Fig. 6 the seats l for the teeth 2 are shown arranged below the periphery i of the wheel and the inclined opposing faces 3 are formed integral with said periphery. In Fig. 7 the seats are provided by the periphery 4 of the wheel and the inclined faces 3 are provided by the iianges 5, which are bolted upon the periphery. The construction shown in Fig. 6 I consider preferable, inasmuch as it permits the tractionwheel, with the desiredteeth seats and faces,to

be readily and inexpensively cast in one piece, and also allows the wheel to be used with the desirably equal in width, whereby all threesides of each tooth may be vplaced upon its seat, thereby permitting each pointededge to IOO be successively used until worn down. The teeth 2 can be arranged upon the periphery of the traction-wheel so as to extend entirely across the width of the latter, if desired, or in any other preferred way, and the same can be held in place upon their seats in any suitable manner. As a preferred arrangement, however, the traction-wheel is composed of a number (three, for instance, as shown in Fig. of annular sections E' and the teeth are arranged at intervals upon each section so that the teeth of one section lie opposite the spaces between the teeth of the next adjacent sections. The teeth of each section may be slipped into place and the sections E' can then be secured together, the periphery of each section thus serving as a stop for preventing slippage toward it of the teeth in the adjacent sections. As one arrangement for securing the annular sections E together, each is provided with inwardly-extending peripheral flanges 6, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5,) which are bolted together, and as a meansof preventing the teeth of the outside annular sections from slipping out the rings 7 are bolted to the outer flanges 6 of such sections.

The traction-wheel'E is desirably connected with the. propelling attachment F, which latter is pivotally connected with the beams a', which form the sides of the body-frame of the machine. In order to allow the tractionwheel to pass easily over portions of the road which are higher on one side than on the other, the bearings or boxes G for said wheel work in substantially vertical guideways, such as the slots S, which 'are formed in the members F', composing the traction propelling attachment, whereby one side of the tractionwheel may slide downwardly Without wrench` ing the frame and also whereby the tilting frame may be lifted clear of the tractionwheel when it is desired to disconnect the latter from the machine. One of the meeting surfaces formed by the top of the box or bearing G and the lower side of the framepiece F', forming the upper end of the slot, is desirably curved or rounded, thereby perinitting an easy rolling or wabbling motion of the bearingebox.- Thus in Figs. 3 and et the portion f of the beam F', which forms the upper end of the slot 8, is'shown provided with a curved rib f'.

The-traction-wheel E may be driven by any suitable connection, a desirable arrangement being that shown in the figures, wherein the traction-wheel is provided with a gear-wheel E", which meshes with a gear-wheel H,mount ed on thetransverse shaft H', which forms the pivotal connection between the body of the machine and the tilting frame, and is driven by the engine D.

The hollow traction-Wheel E is interiorly heated by means of heated air. The air could be heated in any suitable manner and led to the interior of the wheel by suitable connections. As an exceedingly economical arrangement, I have shown the exhaust-pipe D' of the engine D connected with a suitable airheater J, which is connected with the interior of the traction-wheel. The heater illustrated involves a series of air-pipes j, (see Fig. 8,)

having their ends tted inthe disks j', and a.

cylindrical shell or casing J', inclosing the pipes j and disks j' and provided with air inlet and outlet pipes 9 and l0. The exhauststeam enters the cylinder J by means of thek pipe D', attached thereto, and circulates around the pipes j, so as to thoroughly heat the air passing through the latter. The outlet-pipe l0 is connected with the interior of the traction-wheel through the hollow axle of the latter by means of the flexible connector l1, which allows a vertical play on the part of the wheel. 'The` air from the interior of the wheel could be allowed to pass into the open air, but as a matter of further improve` ment the Wheel is connected with the interior.

of the smoke-stack, as by the pipes 11 and 12, whereby the current of air assists the draft of the furnace. Obviously a suitable circulation of air through the heater and tractionwheel will occur whether the air is turned into the outside atmosphere or into the smokestack of the furnace, for in the first instance the air, being still slightly Warm, will contract and so tend to create a draft in the wheel toward the outlet-port thereof, and in the second instance the rising fumes of combustion will tend to create a vacuum or partial vacuum in the hollow wheel by reducing the pressure in the connection between the smoke-stack of the furnace and the wheel, and thereby tend to draw the air out of the latter. ever, as an additional means of inducing a circulation of heated air through the hollow traction-wheel, I have shown a fan or blower K connected to the end of the pipe 9 and arranged to force or drive the heated air through the hollow traction-wheel,' and as a matter of still further improvement I have shown the Howroo

IIO

heater J connected bymeans of pipes ll and 13 with the furnace smoke-stack, so that the exhaust-steam may pass into the latter after leaving the heater. vBy such arrangement the exhaust-steam and heated air passing into the furnace smoke-stack increases Inaterially the draft of the furnace and thereby facilitates combustion therein. By such arrangement also the gaseous currents-in the r exhaust-steam pipe and in the furnace smokestack tend to create a vacuum or partial vacable pressure-reducing device could be ema ployed alone as a means of 'causing the de sired air circulation.

I could of course provide for the disposal of the exhaust-steam from the heater and for the circulation of the heated air through the hollow traction-wheel in other ways without departing from the spirit of my invention; but I regard the foregoing as an exceedingly simple, economical, and satisfactory arrangement for accomplishing such ends.

Inasmuch as a certain amount of the eX- haust-steam is found to condense in the heater J, a suitable tank L is situated below the latter and connected with the same by means of the pipele, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,) whereby such condensed steam may be collected and fed again into the boiler.

l. The combination, in a snow-locomotive, of a hollow traction-wheel, and means for supplying heated air connected with the tractionwheel so as to communicate with the interior thereof, as set forth.

2. The combination, in a snow-locomotive, of a hollow traction-wheel, means for supplying heated air connected therewith, means for inducing a circulation of the heated air through the hollow wheel, and a furnace or the like which is connected with the tractionwheel so as to receive the air issuing from the latter, as set forth.

3. In a snow-locomotive, the combination of a hollow traction-wheel; means for supplying heated air connected therewith; and means for inducing a circulation of the heated air through the hollow traction-wheel.

4. The combination with the hollow traction-wheel in a snow-locomotive, of an airheater connected therewith, and a driving fan or blower connected with the air-heater, as set forth.

5. The combination with thefurnace and boiler, the engine, and the hollow tractionwheel in a snow-locomotive, of an air-heater which is provided with an air connection adapted'to communicate with the interior of the traction-wheel and is connected with the engine so as to receive the exhaust therefrom, and with the furnace so as to increase the draft therein, as set forth.

6. In a snow-locomotive, the combination of a hollow traction-wheel means for supplying heated air connected therewith; and means for inducing a circulation of the heated air through the hollow wheel, comprising pressure-increasing and pressure-reducing devices connected respectively to opposite sides of the wheel.

7. A tractionwheel comprising a plurality of annular sections detachably secured together and respectively provided with a series of circumferentially-arranged and transversely-extending teeth-seats depressed below the wheel-periphery and arranged out of register with one another in adjacent sections, and a series of removable teeth adapted to fit upon the depressed teeth-seats, and adapted also to be held upon their seats by the adjacent annular wheel-sections, and to be removed therefrom only when such annular sections are detached from one another, as set forth.

S. The traction-wheel provided with peripheral seats having inwardly-inclined longitudinal faces rising therefrom, and provided with removable teeth constructed with three longitudinal sides which are substantially equal in width and which are adapted toiit upon said seats between the inclined faces thereof, as set forth.

9. In a snow-locomotive, the combination with the furnace, the boiler and the engine,

of an air-heater connected with both the en" gine and the furnace, whereby the exhaust from the engine is utilized for heating the air and also for increasing the draft of the furnace; a hollow traction-wheel having its in- Y terior in communication with the air-chamber of the airheater, and also with the fur-I nace so as to increase the draft of the latter; and means for inducing a circulation of air through the air-heater, and the tractionwheel, and into the furnace, substantially as set forth.

BYRON F. GLOVER. 

